| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mikkel Venge Beck | ||
| Date of birth | (1973-05-12)12 May 1973 (age 52) | ||
| Place of birth | Aarhus, Denmark | ||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Bramdrupdam G&IF | |||
| Kolding B | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1992–1993 | B 1909 | 13 | (2) |
| 1993–1996 | Fortuna Köln | 79 | (26) |
| 1996–1999 | Middlesbrough | 91 | (24) |
| 1999–2000 | Derby County | 18 | (2) |
| 1999 | →Nottingham Forest (loan) | 5 | (1) |
| 2000 | →Queens Park Rangers (loan) | 11 | (4) |
| 2000 | →AaB (loan) | 10 | (8) |
| 2000–2002 | Lille | 33 | (5) |
| 2002 | →AaB (loan) | 12 | (4) |
| Total | 272 | (76) | |
| International career | |||
| 1993–1995 | Denmark U-21 | 9 | (3) |
| 1995–2000 | Denmark | 19 | (3) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Mikkel Venge Beck (Danish pronunciation:[ˈme̝ɡl̩ˈpɛk]; born 12 May 1973) is a Danish former professionalfootballer who played as aforward. He scored three goals in 19 games for theDenmark national team, and represented Denmark at the internationalEuro 1996 andEuro 2000 tournaments.
Mikkel Beck was born in Aarhus, Denmark. Beck is the son of former Danish footballer Carl Beck, who played forAGF in the Danish first division in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Beck started his career with Danish lower league clubKolding IF, before playing a single season in theDanish Superliga forB 1909. He moved abroad to play professionally for German2. Bundesliga clubFortuna Köln in 1993. Following aback injury which kept him out from August 1994 to February 1995,[2] Beck scored in each of his first five games after recovery, and he received his first call-up for the Danish national team in May 1995. He scored three goals in his first six national team games and was subsequently voted the 1995Danish Sports Talent of the Year. He was included in the Danish national squad for the Euro 1996 in England, where he played two games. Following the tournament, he was sold to English Premier League clubMiddlesbrough.
Despite reaching the1997 FA Cup final in his first season with Middlesbrough, the club wererelegated to theEnglish First Division at the end of theseason after a three-point deduction for failing to play a fixture. Beck stayed with the club and was an important part of the squad which won promotion to the Premier League the very next year. After 24 goals in 91 league matches for Middlesbrough, he moved to league rivals Derby County in March 1999 for £500,000.[3] Beck failed to replicate the form he had shown with Boro; an indication of his lack of success at Derby was him being consistently voted in supporter's polls as the worst player ever to appear for Derby. He did however score a dramatic late equaliser in a 3–3 draw withSouthampton in October 1999.[4] Seeking playing time, Beck underwent loan deals to English lower league clubs. He signed a two-month loan deal toNottingham Forest in November 1999, but after a month at the club, scoring once against Portsmouth,[5] he was recalled by Derby, as the club experienced a lack of strikers.[6] He made two substitute appearances back at Derby[7] before Derby bought Belgian strikerBranko Strupar and Beck was once more out of the team. He was then loaned out toQPR in February 2000 for three months. Despite good play for QPR, Beck was recalled in April 2000 in order to go on loan to Danish Superliga clubAalborg Boldspilklub (AaB) for the rest of the1999–2000 Superliga season.
During his last year at Middlesbrough, and through the rest of his time in England, Beck had lost his place in the Danish national team. At AaB, he scored eight goals in ten matches and led the team to theDanish Cup final, gaining an international recall for Euro 2000. He played in two matches at the tournament and was subsequently purchased byFrench Division 1 clubLille for £500,000.[8] Unhappy with Lille coachVahid Halilhodžić's principle of rotating the players, Beck went on loan to AaB once again in February 2002.[9] Despite hoping to be called up to the Danish national team for the2002 World Cup, Beck was injured in the months before the tournament and was not considered for the squad. Back at Lille, he suffered a string of injuries which kept him out of football for 18 months. In September 2003, he trialled with Spanish sideCórdoba CF but became injured after only two training sessions. In January 2004, he trained with English First Division clubCrystal Palace, but injuries resurfaced during his stay at Palace. He failed to earn a contract and Beck retired.
Mikkel Beck scored three goals in 19 games for the Denmark national team, and represented Denmark at the international Euro 1996 and Euro 2000 tournaments. He played International leagues such as; WC Qualifiers Europe, Friendlies, EURO, EURO Qualifiers and EURO Qualifiers [U21]
Following his retirement, Beck became aplayer agent. He has been suspended and heavily fined twice for acting as a double agent. The second time was in 2022 whenThe Football Association suspended and fined him because he had representedBrighton & Hove Albion as well asMathew Ryan when the latter changed fromValencia CF in 2017.[10]
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 May 1995 | Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland |  Finland | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 2 | 6 September 1995 | King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium |  Belgium | 2–0 | 3–1 | UEFA Euro 1996 qualification |
| 3 | 15 November 1995 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark |  Armenia | 2–0 | 3–1 | UEFA Euro 1996 qualification |
Middlesbrough
|  | |
| ||